teleparser

Telegram cache4.db parser.

This script is introduced by the blog post at https://blog.digital-forensics.it/2020/04/teleparser.html

teleparser is a Python3 script aimed to parse the Telegram cache4.db database. It's not for the faint hearted and the expected user is a DFIR expert. As written in the blog post, the goal is not to miss the data and not to misinterpret it: the script should crash if what is parsing is not what is expected... if not, that's A bug.

It's assumed a bit of knowledge on how the cache4.db is organized and the specificity of its blobs.

Current Telegram versions supported

• <: could work
• 5.5.0: tested, expected to work
• ><: could work
• 5.6.2: tested, expected to work
• ><: could work
• 5.15.0: tested, expected to work
• ><: could work
• 6.3.0: tested, expected to work
• >: expected to fail

Usage

usage: teleparser.py [-h] [-v] infilename outdirectory

Telegram parser version 20200807

positional arguments:
  infilename     input file cache4.db
  outdirectory   output directory, must exist

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose  verbose level, -v to -vvv

Example

meeh:~$ python3 teleparser.py ~/telegrammo/db/cache4.db ~/Documents/telegram_562/

It will create in the output folder (~/Documents/telegram_562/) the following files:

• timeline.csv: a comma separeted textual file with a timeline of messages/events
• table_messages.txt: table messages entries with blobs, human readable
• table_user_settings.txt: table user_settings entries with blobs, human readable
• table_contacts.txt: table contacts entries with blobs, human readable
• table_users.txt: table users entries with blobs, human readable
• table_enc_chats.txt: table enc_chats entries with blobs, human readable
• table_dialogs.txt: table dialogs entries with blobs, human readable
• table_media_v2.txt: table media_v2 entries with blobs, human readable
• table_chats.txt: table chats entries with blobs, human readable
• table_sent_files_v2.txt: table sent_files_v2 entries with blobs, human readable

In case of crash

Please open a bug here and fill the bug template. Most likely the raw data will be needed: in case please be ready to provide a testing cache4.db that can be privately shared. Most likely the script will crash due to new (from the script point of view, a.k.a. unmanaged) blobs.